


Claude von Riegen has a Girlfriend

by soultyghost



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Established Relationship, F/M, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, dedue and hubert own a cafe together but they don't show up soz, hint of lysithea/annette but nothing concrete, it's claude, jock/nerd trope guess who's the nerd
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-06
Updated: 2019-10-06
Packaged: 2020-11-25 22:30:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20919677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soultyghost/pseuds/soultyghost
Summary: Claude's in love and everyone else suffers for it.





	Claude von Riegen has a Girlfriend

**Author's Note:**

> I commissioned [Sen](https://twitter.com/galaxase) to draw [ClauIng](https://twitter.com/galaxase/status/1180449007547514880?s=20) and it was so cute and so pretty that I was FILLED with inspiration. Please give them a like and a retweet!
> 
> ((tfw you're so desperate for content that you pay someone and end up getting inspired to make more content!!!!!!!!))
> 
> EDIT: sen has locked their account so i've gotten their permission to post the drawing here ^^

Claude peeked at his phone screen for the nth time that day. It’s been exactly three minutes and fifteen seconds—sixteen now— since he last checked for any new texts from his girlfriend. 

That’s right. Claude has a girlfriend. 

They’ve made it official two weeks and four days go but he still couldn’t believe it. Who knew that the Sports School’s Ice Queen could be such a cutie once all the ice had melted off? 

Claude had an inkling, of course. He knew Ingrid was pretty, even when she was yelling at him. Maybe especially so. But did he know she was the most adorable dork in the entire universe? No. He did not.

“Aaaaw, he’s thinking about Ingrid again,” Hilda cooed, dragging Claude from his daydreams and throwing him under the bus. She probably didn’t mean to but Claude was already sweating when Lorenz reared his head from behind his laptop.

“Riegen,” he hissed, spitting out Claude’s surname like a dirty word, “if you are not going to study then please stop distracting the rest of us with your ridiculous mooning. This is the university’s library, not Riegen Manor’s.”

Claude’s wireframe glasses slipped down the bridge of his nose in disbelief. Normally, he always had a comeback ready at the tip of his tongue. At the moment, however, he was failing to process the sheer hypocrisy coming out of Lorenz’s mouth. 

It took about two seconds for Claude’s brain to get back online. When he did, he immediately grabbed his phone to open the recorder app. “You’re gonna have to repeat that, sir,” he said.

Who was the one who invited himself to the study group? Lorenz wasn’t even in their department! He was in Poli Sci! At least Hilda had the excuse of being his friend when she tagged along without the intention of doing work. Lorenz’s family just so happened to be business competitors with Claude’s, that was all. 

In fact, Claude had the patience of a saint for enduring Lorenz’s obsession with this ‘rivalry’. If it weren’t for the laws of the land, he’d have already hired a hitman. For now, he had to settle with annoying Lorenz to death by shoving his phone in his face.

“Leave him alone, Lorenz,” Hilda said lazily. “After all that drama they put everyone through, it’s nice to see the two lovebirds finally happy.”

Realizing that Hilda was streaming their antics from her phone, Claude rolled his eyes towards the camera. “‘Thanks for the support, Hilda,’ is what I’d say but I can tell when you’re being fake.”

“I! Would! Never! Gosh, Claude, why would you say that?”

“Stop fooling around, fool!” Lorenz hissed, his anger level steadily rising every time he tried and failed to grab Claude’s phone.

“Stop fooling around, fool!” Claude parroted, exaggerating his tone to sound as snobbish as possible. 

“Oh shit,” Claude muttered under his breath when he noticed Lysithea slowly getting up from her seat from the corner of his eyes. He clapped his hands over his ears and braced for impact, wincing when his phone slammed against an ear.

“QUIT IT! THIS IS THE LIBRARY!” Lysithea shrieked, her childish voice reverberating around and threatening to break the glass walls of the discussion room.

* * *

> **Kyphon’s #1 Fan:** Just finished :)
> 
> **MASTER THIEF CLAUDE:** heyy babe
> 
> **MASTER THIEF CLAUDE:** gr8 work
> 
> **MASTER THIEF CLAUDE:** up for a d8? We dun hv 2 if ur 2 tired
> 
> **Kyphon’s #1 Fan:** Yes, I’d love to! But can you please type normally? It’s giving me a headache.
> 
> **MASTER THIEF CLAUDE:** k ):
> 
> **MASTER THIEF CLAUDE:** jk jk (translation: i’m kidding please don’t put me on read)
> 
> **MASTER THIEF CLAUDE:** you mind if we do something simple today?
> 
> **MASTER THIEF CLAUDE:** like a coffee date? 
> 
> **MASTER THIEF CLAUDE:** I was missing you so much that i didn’t get any studying done ):
> 
> **Kyphon’s #1 Fan**: ...Use me as an excuse for your laziness one more time. I dare you.
> 
> **MASTER THIEF CLAUDE:** NO!! I’M TELLING THE TRUTH! I even got yelled at by lysithea ):
> 
> **MASTER THIEF CLAUDE:** babe?
> 
> **MASTER THIEF CLAUDE:** we still on for coffee? 
> 
> **MASTER THIEF CLAUDE:** is duebert ok?

“This has been such a colossal waste of time,” Claude heard Lysithea complain once they’ve returned the keycard to the library’s front desk.

Claude tore his eyes away from his phone screen. Constantly refreshing the chat window was getting bad for his mental health.

“No one asked you to spend an entire hour lecturing us,” he pointed out, earning a poisonous glare for his honesty. He held up his hands in surrender. “Prithee have mercy, m’lady. This humble old man has three children back home.”

“Is that what you’re calling your id, ego, and super-ego?”

“Don’t let your parents know that you’re making Freudian references now, you hear me? It’d be my ass on the line.” 

“Would it kill you to stop infantilizing me for once? And why are you following me? Go home.”

“Aw, do you hate to spend even a second more with me, Lysithea? Just kidding, I’m heading for DueBert.” 

Claude’s phone had buzzed with a notification. It was a voice message from Ingrid. Weird. She wasn’t one for those things.

Lysithea deflated. Then two spots of red bloomed on her cheeks. “Oh. Well, I’m actually going there too.”

“Oh? That’s nice,” he said absently, thumb hovering over the play button. 

Lysithea was probably unnerved by his lack of prying so she quickly added, “I’m meeting up with Annette. She wants me to tutor her.”

Claude would have teased Lysithea for her obvious excitement but he ended up being distracted by Ingrid’s low voice filtering through the phone speaker.

_“Mmm, DueBert’s fine. I just need to shower first then I’ll rush over.”_ A short pause. _“I’ve been...missing you so much too. Ugh, okay, this is awkward, bye, see you.”_

Claude’s ear burned. The logical part of his brain pointed out that his phone was already hot from overuse but his maiden heart wasn’t listening. It was too busy bouncing around his ribcage. 

Maybe if he just played the message one more time he’ll figure out that he was overreacting…

_ “Mmm, DueBert’s fine.” _

Her voice was shaking. Was she that flustered over what he said? Shame he couldn’t see her expression in person. She must have the prettiest blush on her cute face.

_ “I just need to shower first then I’ll rush over.” _

She could have just come over, really. It wasn’t like Claude hadn’t seen her all sweaty and gross but just thinking about Ingrid (of all people!) wanting to freshen up despite her eagerness was really doing him in.

_ “I’ve been...missing you so much too.” _

That pause! That almost inaudible whisper!

“Auuuuuggggggghhhhhh!!” Claude groaned into his hand after replaying the message for the fifteenth time.

So that was a huge mistake.

* * *

DueBert Cafe was a cozy little cafe filled with live flowers just outside the campus run by two rugged-looking men called Dedue and Hubert. Despite the unending and wild rumors floating around about the owners’ status as ex-convicts, the cafe was kept afloat by 

  1. a loyal clientele who was addicted to their scrumptious sweets and bold roasts
  2. according to some, filthy rich shareholders, and
  3. cute baristas who were no taller than 5’7” with vastly different personalities to cater to every taste

“I think it’s so cute that he’s so head over heels for her! Claude used to be so cool but now he’s such a dork! It’s so romantic!”

“I think you mean ‘pathetic.’”

Claude snapped out of his daydreams and squinted at the two tiny girls gossiping about him at the espresso bar. 

“I should start charging you ladies for every diss but since Annette’s a first-timer, you get a free pass.”

Annette’s face flushed redder than her hair. “Ooops! Sorry, Claude. I didn’t mean anything bad by it. Here, have some madeleines. It’s on me,” she said, stumbling on her words as she struggled to retrieve the pastries from the display case.

“Careful, you might break something,” Lysithea cried. 

Claude whistled when not a moment later, an entire plate of madeleines fell to the floor with a loud crash. 

Annette’s face paled. “Oh no! That’s the ninth time this week! Manager’s gonna kill me...” 

The cafe was bustling with activity and Annette’s apologies for a good while. Claude was so distracted by the entertaining play that he almost jumped out of his skin when he noticed a familiar figure from his periphery. 

He printed to a table in the furthest corner of the cafe and upended his backpack, dumping candies, notebooks, a swiss army knife, massive textbooks, and stray pens in a messy pile. Years of practice had honed his skills enough that by the time Ingrid pushed the glass door open, everything was artfully arranged to look like he stole it right out of a studyblr. Minus the candies because his girlfriend didn’t need to know his dark side. On second thought, the knife was probably too extra so he also put it away.

He started scribbling random chemical formulas in his notebook while waiting for Ingrid to come over and praise his diligence but she never did. What was taking her so long? He wanted to see her.

Impatience soon won out. Claude peeked over his shoulder and saw her leaning casually against the counter, engrossed in conversation with Ashe, the barista who took over Annette’s shift. She looked pretty as always, the delicate ribbons in her short hair creating a cute contrast to her puffy letterman jacket and worn-out sneakers. Her expressions were animated and bright with no signs of fatigue from a day’s worth of classes and training.

It made him feel a bit irritated knowing that he wasn’t the reason she was so excited.

“Hey, babe. You done ordering?” Claude said, casually sliding up to Ingrid. He wanted to wrap an arm around her shoulders but thought better of it at the last second. 

What was he trying to do? Assert his dominance? Claude von Riegan’s ego wasn’t that fragile. No siree.

“Hi, Claude. No, not yet,” Ingrid said, shuffling away instinctively. The faint flush rising to her cheeks cooled him down somewhat. Ingrid might not be easily excited but Claude was definitely the only one who could make her feel self-conscious.

“Heyya, Claude,” Ashe jumped in, completely oblivious to the sexual tension brewing right in his face. “We were just talking about the latest edition of Super Kyphon. My copy came in early so I’m lending it to Ingrid.”

Claude followed Ashe’s gaze where it fell to the stacks of comics cradled lovingly in Ingrid’s arms.

“Yes, I, uh, also asked if he could lend me some other titles,” Ingrid chimed in, her eyes darting here and there. “That’s why I replied a bit late to your text. I mean, since I knew that Ashe’s shift coincided with our uh… I mean, since I’ll be stopping by during his shift. Anyway, I didn’t want to disturb you so I thought maybe I could use the time to unwind...”

“You’re rambling, Ingrid,” Claude cut in. His cheeks were starting to hurt from grinning so much.

“Well, yes! I tend to do that when I’m talking about Super Kyphon. Right, Ashe?” 

“Of course! It’s so fun to ramble about the things you love! Who cares if you sound silly?” Ashe agreed enthusiastically.

Claude honed in on the one word he could use to tease Ingrid. He toned down his grin for a more innocent look even if it wasn’t easy when her blush grew a shade darker with every passing second. “The things you love, huh? That’s cute.”

“Ashe! Can I have my usual? How about you, Claude? What will you have?” Ingrid said loudly, steam practically radiating out of her ears.

“Just a long black will do. Oh, wait. Annette saved some madeleines for me, I think. I’ll give those to you, Ingrid. Any more sweet things and I might just get diabetes.” 

Claude had to literally bite his lips to keep himself from laughing when he saw Ingrid at a loss for words. Didn’t she know that when she gets so flustered that she couldn’t even threaten to hurt him it does wonders to his ego?

“Sure thing! Go ahead and have a seat. I’ll bring them over to your table,” Ashe replied with a wink. Claude was starting to suspect that he had misread Ashe’s character.

Oh well. Figuring Ashe out wasn’t as interesting as teasing Ingrid. Seeing as she had her arms full and crossed tight across her chest, Claude wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close. The motion surprised her enough that all of her annoyance melted away and was replaced with nervousness.

“Missed me?” he asked, smiling wider when she hummed in reply. It was getting hard for him to breathe when she scrunched her eyes closed. 

Was she expecting a kiss? Sure, they’ve kissed before but have they reached That Stage? That point in their relationship where he could just casually kiss her?

Claude weighed his options. He really, desperately, wanted to press his lips against her and swallow her cute little gasps but he also wanted to see if he could frustrate her enough to hear her beg. Hm. Now that it’s come up, he wondered how Ingrid would look and sound when she would beg. Just the thought excited him.

Claude leaned in close until their foreheads pressed together. The way her breathing sped up was too damn adorable but it still couldn’t beat the way her eyelids fluttered in surprise when he pecked her nose lightly. He couldn’t stop himself from laughing lightly or steal another peck. 

She made him so deliriously happy.

Unfortunately, his happiness came at a cost. Ever since he baited her, every time Claude wanted to sneak in a kiss, his lips would meet Ingrid’s palm instead.

It’s cool, it’s cool. He hasn’t lost sight of his goal. He’d wear her defenses down eventually. Just like how he got her to agree to date him. 

Claude was in it for the long haul.

* * *

[](https://imgur.com/eEg9650)


End file.
